Govt. to decide shortly on reducing weight of school bags, says Kerala Education Minister
The Hindu
Kerala government to reduce school bag weight, update syllabus, and host Kerala School Olympics Kochi – 24.
In a noteworthy development, the Kerala government is shortly expected to take a long-awaited decision to reduce the weight of school bags from Classes I to XII. This comes in the wake of a slew of complaints and suggestions from parents and others, Minister for Education V. Sivankutty said here on Friday.
Already, text books are being printed as two parts, with each part having up to 120 pages. Still, there is mounting concern about the weight of books that children have to carry to school. Measures will be taken to limit the weight of school bags of Class I students between 1.60 kg to 2.20 kg and that of Class X students between 2.50 kg and 4.50 kg. Moreover, students would not have to carry their bags to school on four days every month, he said after inaugurating a regional file adalat that was held at Ernakulam Government Girls’ HSS.
He added that efforts are on to update the pre-primary and higher secondary school syllabus. Students are now learning syllabus prescribed by NCERT in 2005 and SCERT in 2013. The updated syllabus will cover all subjects by 2026.
The file adalat has begun in order to clear long-pending files in educational offices under the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The adalats at Kollam and Kozhikode will be held on August 5 and 17. A total of 1,381 applications were received for the adalat in Kochi, of which 773 were cleared.
Efforts are on to clear all files, except those that are under consideration of courts. A State level adalat will be held at Thiruvananthapuram, to settle other files. A section of officials have been found to delay files, including of teachers who have been working sans salary for up to 10 years, the Minister said. Minister for Industries and Law P. Rajeeve too attended the adalat where a Government Order confirming the appointment of 105 UP school teachers working in schools run by the Thrissur-Irinjalakuda Archdiocese, was handed over to the corporate manager of the schools. T.J. Vinod, MLA, presided.
Mr. Sivankutty said this year’s school sports meet will be held here from November 4 to 11 on the lines of the Olympics, under the name ‘Kerala School Olympics Kochi – 24’. This sports meet will be held like the Olympics, every four years and will feature 41 sports events. A total of 24,000 athletes will vie for prizes in the meet, in the under-14, under-17 and under-19 categories. This could well emerge as the biggest sports event globally for teenagers. A meeting of the organising committee will be held in the Regional Sports Centre, at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
A special assembly will be held at schools on July 27, to spread awareness among children about the spirit of Olympics. In addition, Kerala will play host to an inclusive sports meet – the first of its kind in India, from this year, he said.